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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908695">Lion's Mouth</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/inalasahl/pseuds/inalasahl'>inalasahl</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Mission: Impossible (Movies)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>M/M, Pre-Relationship, Pre-Slash</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 18:40:33</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Explicit</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Rape/Non-Con</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,645</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27908695</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/inalasahl/pseuds/inalasahl</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Benji's first time as lead on a mission goes awry when he's taken hostage.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Benji Dunn/Ethan Hunt</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>6</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>28</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Collections:</b></td><td>Consent Issues Exchange 2020</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Lion's Mouth</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/smaragdbird/gifts">smaragdbird</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>In the scene in Rogue Nation after Benji has been taken hostage, there are three men, Lane (who is imprisoned as of the end of Fallout), Vintner (who is dead), and a third man, whose actor is listed in the credits as playing "Saif."</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Benji sat back in his seat eagerly. He couldn't believe he had been able to secure a box and on a night when he didn't have work for the first time in months. La Giaconda wasn't one of Benji's favorites operas. Hard to have a favorite you'd never seen live. But he'd worn out his recording of Montserrat Caballé singing it back in the day, and though you couldn't precisely say the good guys won, at least the bad guys lost in the end. </p>
<p>The musicians stopped tuning their instruments, the lights dimmed and he sat forward a bit. He loved this moment, when a hush started to settle as a hold auditorium held their breath awaiting that first note. Nearly soundless, the click of the door behind him was still harsh and unexpected. Benji turned, in suprise, as a program and a pair of opera glasses were held out to him. "Complimentary with the seat, sir," a non-descript woman murmured and left again, quietly as she had come.</p>
<p>Strange, that the complimentary items hadn't been given out when he'd showed his ticket, but Benji lifted the glasses to his face to adjust them anyway. He wondered if they were any good. Beautiful certainly — marquetry inlay and mother-of-pearl edging, but in his experience unless they were actual antiques, the fancier the exterior the more likely that the magnification and refraction technology was of poor quality.</p>
<p>As soon as he lifted the glasses to his face, there was a flash of light and then "Identity Confirmed: Benjamin Dunn. Good evening, Mr. Dunn," scrolled across the image in the glasses. Benji nearly dropped them. His first mission as lead! "Your mission, should you choose to accept it," the image continued on, and Benji made sure he memorized the whole thing. IMF had learned of the existence of an item with information key to identifying the remaining members of the apostles and had sent an agent to retrieve it. The agent had successfully obtained the item, but the original plans had gone wrong and she needed an extraction. A logistics challenge in a major city was the kind of field work Benji excelled at, and he was excited that his first job as lead was so suited to him. "This message will self-destruct in 30 seconds."</p>
<p>Benji stood up abruptly, walking out into the hallway. There was a wastebasket a few feet away. He tossed the glasses in quickly and scanned the "brochure" hastily, memorizing the cache he was being granted access to and binning it fast enough for the opera glass destruction to take care of the brochure as well. He began striding across the lobby toward the outside door, already mentally mapping plans in his head, La Giaconda forgotten.</p>
<p>He wished he could have Ethan. Ethan was off, on a mission that he hadn't taken Benji on, and Benji understood. He did; he really did. He was Ethan's friend, not anything more, and Benji's skills weren't right for every mission. It was just as well. With everything they'd gone through lately, it was harder for Benji to pretend his feelings were friendly, and it was for the best that they each have a break from each other. Next time they both were in town, at least Benji would have a good story to share, if Ethan invited him over for a cuppa. First mission as lead. Benji took a deep breath and got to work. </p><hr/>
<p>For something technically field work, the job itself mostly involved hacking to get around a lack to time to forge acceptable false paperwork and identification. Benji did it en route to the pick-up, while Barnaba secured the transportation and Enzo ran point, making sure Benji looked like a workaholic businessman to all passers-by. Benji had never worked with either man before, but they had the skills he needed and were available, unlike his favorite co-workers who were all on missions of their own, or like Brandt, retired from the field. Enzo was chatty, and a bit naive. Benji wondered how long he'd last in the field, or if he'd eventually be moved to admin. Barnaba was the opposite. Completely unsociable, with a cap pulled down low over his face and a seeming aversion to talking or making eye contact. There was something familiarly unpleasant about his face, but Benji couldn't place it, and he'd seen a lot of agents in the halls during the years he wasn't in the field, after all.</p>
<p>Of course, everything went to hell when they got to the pick-up site and discovered the agent they were there to extract wasn't just without transportation, but surrounded. Benji rolled up his sleeves. He was the lead here, and it was the Impossible Mission Force, not the Slightly Difficult Mission Force. He and Barnaba would have to get to the extraction point on foot.</p>
<p>Leaving Enzo with the van, they made their way to the "agent in need of extraction," without incident, and when the agent lowered her hood, he recognized Jane, exhausted, gray-faced and her gun arm, limp at her side, as if she could no longer raise it. "I have the item," she said, lifting her shirt aside, "and a little problem." Underneath the shirt, blood seeped from a wound that Benji couldn't quite identify as either a bullet furrow or a knife cut, but it was steadily leaking, and already inflamed. Benji studied her arm again, and doubted it was her only injury. "We'll cover you," he said, and moved to fan out, giving Jane and the package the chance to get to the getaway vehicle first.</p>
<p>But Jane didn't move, and Benji followed her line of sight to the horror of Barnaba pointing a gun at her. "Where is the item?" Barnaba said, and Benji swore, recognizing too late that, of course, the Apostles would move heaven and earth to keep their identities from being exposed, even burning their own mole.</p>
<p>"I'm hit," Jane said, nonsensically, arms trembling with the faintest edge of fear, the bracelet on her limp arm making a slight rattle. She wasn't talking to Barnaba. Benji knew her too well to believe her fortitude was flagging or that a single turncoat with a gun could make her tremble, no matter how injured and ill she was. Benji's eyes lit upon rosary wrapped around her wrist like a bracelet, and abruptly understood it to be a string of data chips in disguise. He was the lead, and she was asking him what he wanted her to do. Five seconds, ten. What would Ethan do, Benji thought, and there was really only one answer to that. Ethan put his own life on the line, not anyone else's, not when he had a choice.</p>
<p>Benji made his decision. She had the package, and she couldn't hold Barnaba. Benji could. "Get it to safety," he snapped, moving fast, launching himself at Barnaba, placing himself between Barnaba and Jane. The first shot went wild, and then Benji was on him, using every ounce of his training to pin him and keep him from shooting again. "Meet you back at the office," Benji called, stiff upper lip firmly in place as Jane began moving toward the welcome sound of Enzo laying down cover fire and guiding her to the van.</p>
<p>Barnaba had height and reach on Benji, as well as slightly better hand-to-hand skill, but Benji fought as hard as he could, even after the welcome sound of the van roaring away taking Jane and the intel to safety, met his ears. But he couldn't hold out forever, and the initial shot Barnaba had gotten off soon drew his compatriots to their position. </p>
<p>Benji closed his eyes and thought of Ethan's face, and spent a moment imagining what it would have been like to take Ethan to the opera. At least he would die a field agent. It was something to be proud of. </p><hr/>
<p>Benji woke, confused. He was not dead. There was a bag over his head, obscuring his vision. but he could feel a mattress underneath him. He was also tied down, arms over his head, legs spread. He tested his bonds, gingerly, not wanting to tighten the knots by pulling too hard. He was very definitely stuck. He shifted as much as he could, seeking the slightest hint of a rough patch that he could rub against to fray the rope holding him.</p>
<p>"You're awake," he heard, and it was the voice combined with the bag over his head that forced his recollection. The last time he'd been taken, three men in the room: Lane, Vintner and — "Saif."</p>
<p>"Ah, now you remember. As much as it would have upset my plans, I must say I was hurt you didn't recognize me earlier. I've thought of you and the brief time we spent together so often since then. My fingers slick inside you, opening you up for Lane."</p>
<p>Benji gagged as sense memory assaulted him, a hot breath in his face saying "Get him ready, please." Of course, he hadn't recognized Barnaba as Saif. If he could have burned the memory from his brain he would have, but he'd done his best to forget, to bury it all, and until now, he thought he'd done a decent job of it, with none of his colleagues the wiser.</p>
<p>A hand upon his head, and Benji cringed away from the contact as the hood was pulled from it. Benji blinked his eyes, adjusting to the light. There was a phone on a stand pointed at him, and as his eyes slowly focused Benji realized it was recording.</p>
<p>"I could have killed you, of course. But you are so much more valuable to me this way. Plus, as I said, I've thought about you a lot." Benji's eyes moved to the phone to Saif's face, and the man smirked at him with a smarmy eyebrow waggle. He dragged his eyes away, looking around the room for anything. Any opportunity that might become open to him if he found a way to seize it. Saif continued on, "You were out just long enough for me to contact Agent Hunt, and get a little livestream set up. I must admit," Saif said, "I'm rather excited to get a chance to watch the legendary Ethan Hunt in action." Benji inhaled sharply, taking the words in. Livestream? Did that mean Ethan hard <em>heard?</em> Saif laughed, patting Benji on the calf. He strained away instinctively, but there was little give in the ropes binding him. "Don't be jealous. I'm still more excited that I get my chance to play with you the way I wanted to then. Lane didn't like sharing his toys."</p>
<p>If Ethan <em>was</em> watching there'd be no way to misunderstand that. He'd know that Lane had — had —. Benji let the thought go. If Saif had been foolish enough to contact Ethan, then Ethan was on his way, walking into a trap, and Benji needed to get himself free before the stupid self-sacrifing man did something like attempt to memorize a billion account numbers and dare a terrorist to blow him up. "You should have killed me when you had the chance," Benji said.</p>
<p>Saif picked up a pair of surgical scissors. The light glinted menacingly from the end. "You undervalue your worth, Agent Dunn. Ethan Hunt can steal anything from anyone, and thanks to you and your surly girlfriend I need something recovered. But lucky for me, I have the right means to persuade Hunt." He lowered the scissors and began cutting Benji's clothes away. Benji had a brief, confused moment of being glad his underwear was clean, before the implications set in. Saif meant to torture him on camera, and if Benji broke, then Ethan might actually do what the man said, and that would only lead to disaster.</p>
<p>"He'll never do what you want." Benji turned his head back to the phone with a glare. "He knows I wouldn't want him to." He put every ounce of certainty and defiance into his voice that he could, remembering a soft joke and a promise, <em>Benji, I won't let anything happen to you.</em> This time Benji needed Ethan to keep his eye on the metaphorical plutonium, no matter what. </p>
<p>Saif laughed mockingly. "He's already agreed, Agent Dunn. You, in exchange for the return of the data chips, undisturbed. I knew he would. He was so desperate to get you back last time. Of course, knowing Agent Hunt's reputation, I felt it best to give him incentive to hurry. He does tend to overthink otherwise." Let it be a ploy, Benji thought. Ethan couldn't really be planning on a trade? He gritted his jaw. He could get through this, he could. Ethan had to know that. Had to understand that Benji wasn't worth the world. It didn't take long before Benji was lying naked on top of his shredded clothing. Saif ran the scissors over his body, not yet breaking skin. Benji flinched as they ran over his right nipple. "Do you like that?" Saif murmured, and Benji didn't know how to react. Which would be more likely to convince Ethan to abandon him? Defiance or cold refusal to acknowledge what was happening? Benji could only hope that Ethan was too busy coming up with a plan to actually be paying attention to Saif's livestream. </p>
<p>Saif placed the scissors on the bed, his fingernails catching the light. "You're quite an attractive man, Agent Hunt." Blunt fingers. Benji remembered them. He couldn't keep the fear from his face. Cold unacknowledgement would not be in the cards. Defiance, then.</p>
<p>"Ethan will never help you," he spat out, with all the strength he could muster. "He knows I know what I signed up for. I am a field agent, and I am prepared to die to make sure you and every member of the Apostles can't hurt anyone else ever again."</p>
<p>This earned another mocking laugh. "You have an attractive voice, too, Agent Dunn. I can't wait to hear just exactly what delicious noises, you'll make with it." He began removing his own clothing clothes and Benji realized with joy that the scissors were sitting, forgotten, next to his left foot. Just a little closer, and he'd have an edge and maybe a free foot. </p>
<p>Saif climbed up on the body, pressing his naked length against Benji and ostentatiously sniffing Benji's collar and head. Benji couldn't repress a full blown shudder. "I bet it's been a couple of days since you showered," Saif grinned. "Nice and musky." He licked a stripe along Benji's jaw and down his neck to chest, scraping his beard against him the whole way. Benji fruitlessly attempted to cringe away. "Don't worry, Mr. Dunn, I'm a very generous lover."</p>
<p>Saif reached out to caress Benji's jaw and pinned him with his gaze. "How do you usually like it, Mr. Dunn? Fast? Slow? Or are you a virgin?"</p>
<p>"Go to hell," Benji gritted out.</p>
<p>"How can I?" Saif smirked. "When I'm already in heaven?" He trailed a hand down Benji's body and then he was touching Benji's balls with slick fingers, feeling for an opening, before plunging the first finger in. Benji yelped, and let his mind wander to the future, rather than alone himself to focus on the rough prodding and poking happening between his legs. It was likely he'd have to endure this ... session with Saif and hope he was left alone later, with an opportunity to use the scissors. The thought calmed him down. Benji swallowed and concentrated on shifting enough to ascertain where the knots were in the rope tying him down and exactly what kind they were. If he could just shift his leg enough to get the scissors under him where Saif couldn't see, so he might forget about them.</p>
<p>"So much more relaxed," Saif was saying. "Maybe this was something you wanted to? You're as hot on my fingers as I remember." He left off opening Benji up much too soon, entering him with a forceful stroke that had Benji grunting in pain. "You little slut," Saif said. "Listen to you moan. You love it so much."</p>
<p>Benji clenched his jaw shut in shame, reflexively, even if he understood in his head that Saif was wrong, that Saif was lying. He knew damn well Benji hated it, but the taunting shamed him anyway. The pain was worse. Benji couldn't keep himself from trying to twist away, and Saif used that to taunt him too, as if Benji's movements were intended to arouse. "Yeah, that's it, show me how much you love it." Please, please, let Ethan be driving or otherwise unable to watch.</p>
<p>He reached down between them and grabbed Benji's own cock. No. "Stop, please, no," Benji said, unable to take it any longer.</p>
<p>"You are a nervous virgin," Saif replied, as if he hadn't just called Benji a slut a few moments earlier. "Mr. Hunt is going to think you're not happy if you keep this up. But then maybe that's what you want?"</p>
<p>"He won't. He's letting some tech geek download those files right now, and your entire organization will be destroyed." Please let Ethan have just been buying time by agreeing to Saif's trade.</p>
<p>Saif cocked his head. His hand on Benji's cock paused, though his hips kept up their inexorable painful rhythm. "You're in love with him. Does he know that? Is that why he fought so hard to get you back from Lane in London?" He leaned in, and bit a hard mark on Benji's shoulder with relish, as he moved his mouth to Benji's ear, whispering as if to a lover. "Is he a possessive man? Let's make sure to keep his motivation to hurry fresh." He slapped Benji across the face hard. "I'm going to mark you up, and he'll never be able to see you without thinking of his failure to keep you safe. He'll never want you again."</p>
<p>Tears spilled from Benji's eyes. He couldn't help it, though he tried. Saif was groaning now, thrusting harder into Benji. It hurt, but it didn't too, and Benji flushed in embarassment as his cock began to harder. Saif grinned in satisfaction. "He'll never want you again," he repeated. "He has enough people to take care of, without a broken a toy like you," and all at once, Saif came.</p>
<p>He got up, put his clothes on, picked up the phone from it's stand, and walked out of the room. Benji, at last, was alone.</p><hr/>
<p>In the end, Benji could never quite remember how he'd managed it or assess how long it had taken. But he'd managed to free himself and escape outside, naked, just in time to catch Ethan sneaking up on the building. He hoped Ethan didn’t have a rosary on him, but he didn’t ask. Neither of them said anything, and Benji allowed himself to be covered in the coat Ethan had brought, always prepared, and willingly left Saif behind, a problem for another day. Ethan took him to safety and then to a hospital, and Benji went because it was quicker than arguing, and still neither of them said anything, and Benji snuck away as soon as he'd gotten the recommended blood tests and been examined for injuries that wouldn't heal on his own to a safe house with a shower where he could regroup in peace.</p>
<p>He tried to sleep, but it was impossible, and when he got up, Ethan was on the floor outside the bedroom, not abashed in the least to have broken in, with a half-cocked story about guarding Benji while he slept, blaming himself for putting Benji being in danger. Because Ethan was his friend, despite Saif's innuendos, and Benji's longing, and that was enough for Ethan to care.</p>
<p>Had Benji been less tired, less in pain, he might have chosen his words more carefully, but having been hurt in the line of duty, he wanted to be praised, not pitied. "I'm not like Julia," Benji said. "I was always going to be in danger. I didn't even know you when I joined the IMF. I'm not your responsibility. I've told you before. I'm a field agent."</p>
<p>Ethan trembled and gave in suddenly. "Okay, Benji, okay," Ethan said. With a movement shocking in it's suddenness, but still gentle, Ethan leaned in and pressed his forehead to Benji's. Benji's breath caught. He had a sudden memory of Julia kissing Ethan's forehead goodbye in a field hospital in the Nubra River Valley.</p>
<p>"Ethan ..."</p>
<p>Ethan swallowed hard. "Sorry," he said. "Sorry, I —"</p>
<p>"How long?" Benji asked.</p>
<p>Ethan looked away. "We don't have to talk about this. I never meant to let you know."</p>
<p>"How long?" Benji asked again.</p>
<p>"London. That's when I knew, anyway. You were gone, and I would have done anything. Anything."</p>
<p>"You should have told me," Benji said.</p>
<p>"You didn't need to know." Ethan said, and his face was miserable. "I swear it, Benji. I'd never — impose — on you." And Benji thinks about that. How things had ended with Julia. How Ethan, still, carried a lot of guilt, though she had walked away into a happy life. Maybe that was how Ethan saw his love now, as something tainted. It was hard to tell sometimes until the end, whether you were witnessing a tragedy or a comedy.</p>
<p>Benji made his decision and pressed a closed mouth first kiss to Ethan's lips, softly, cajolingly. Strange, to feel joy, after everything else. "I'm not yours to protect, Ethan. It's not your decision to make."</p>
<p>Ethan buried his face into the crook of Benji's neck and took his hands in his, and just like he'd said that time in Vienna — "Okay," he replied.</p>
<p>"Good," Benji said again and drew Ethan into the kitchen to watch him make two cups of tea.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Rated for explicit rape and sexual taunting.</p></blockquote></div></div>
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